Potentially excellent news for Linux Mint KDE users

I’m afraid I’ve fallen behind with reading posts on the Linux Mint Forums, but I see Boo, the (lead) developer behind the KDE version of Linux Mint, has shared why it’s taking so long to get Linux Mint 11 KDE. As he posted on the Mint 11 KDE development thread a couple of weeks ago there’s a very good reason we haven’t seen any updates in the Testing ISO page at the Mint Community site.

News people!!
Good and bad as it turns out, due to all the Ubuntu problems I am swapping the base from Kubuntu to Debian.
What does this mean? A bit more of a wait but it is DEBIAN!
Hopefully this wont take too long as I have the packages built and the ISO build process is very similar.

It’s not being met with unanimous cheers, though, because some people, with older hardware or other issues, aren’t able to run any of the Debian-based versions of Mint. It’s unfortunate because it seems the Ubuntu devs are definitely not making everyone happy with their delay or lack of interest in fixing bugs introduced with the release of Ubuntu 11.04. As a result KDE users will have to decide between either not upgrading their Linux Mint 10 KDE install or switching to Kubuntu or another KDE release of Linux. It’s unfortunate because Linux Mint gets so many things right, especially with their implementation of KDE, but the change will also make Mint KDE a rolling release and a bit easier to update in the future.

You can find the announcement and user responses over on the Linux Mint KDE development thread at the Linux Mint Forums.

YouTube breaks third-party apps again, but Minitube got a quick fix

Earlier this year YouTube rolled out a site redesign that broke every video downloading addon out there, although Firefox’s addon devs rose to the occasion. (I do with my gChrom extensions would get fixed so I don’t have to fire up the Fox so bloody often.) Recently YouTube devs did it again, rolling out an upgrade that broke third-party YouTube apps, rendering my beloved Minitube able to find videos but unable to play a one of them.

Luckily for us Ferramosca Roberto, Minitube’s creator, found the bug and rolled out Minitube 1.1, allowing us to once again enjoy YouTube vids without opening our web browsers. As of this writing he doesn’t have a Windows installer yet but he does have binaries for Linux and OSX, although OSX binaries require a small fee to help fund the development and support. Minitube users on the other platforms are more than welcome to donate what they can to help fund continued development as well, because Ferramosca still has bills to pay while he works in open source software development.

GNU/Linux users have a handy set of install instructions since it’s going to take time to get packages built for the various distros. The instructions list dependencies and notes about what you many need to do to get it working on KDE, as well as notes for people with 64 bit systems and those who don’t get video.

Ubuntu users have it even easier because while it will take some time for GetDeb to get an updated package build Ferramosca has a Launchpad PPA that already has the update available.  Info for adding the PPA is on the PPA link if you need it.

While you’re at Ferramosca’s website you should also check out Minitunes, Minitube’s new sibling that could become your new favorite audio player. I haven’t fired it up yet (KDE has yet to add it to my app menu after installing it for some reason) but check out what their entry in the Ubuntu Software Center says. (You’ll need to add the PPA above to get it to show up in the USC.)

I do like the way they word that. Give it a whirl on your own system and see how you feel about it.

[UPDATED] It’s almost Lynx time

We have a mere 7 days until Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx LTS is released and this morning I got an email from Steve Langasek through the Ubuntu Announcement email list letting me know that they now have a release candidate available for testing.

You can read the release notes on the Ubuntu web site to get the instructions and caveats, along with some known issues. Some of the important new features in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS are (thanks to the OMG! Ubuntu! site for their great coverage):

• Built-in integration with Twitter, identi.ca, Facebook and other social networks
• Faster booting with a cleaner look
• New icons and themes as well as some great new wallpapers
• The brand new Ubuntu One Music Store
• Improved cloud computing installer
• Dmraid “fake raid” support right out of the box

Some of the items you may need to pay particular attention to if you’re looking to upgrade from Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron LTS are

• Changes to the GRUB menu.lst
• Wireless regulatory domain via module options is no longer supported since 9.04
• Bonded network interfaces require hotplug-style configuration since 9.10
• Ctrl-Alt-Backspace is still disabled (since 9.04) so you may need to re-enable it
• Update notifications changed in 9.04
• MySQL 5.0 has been upgraded to 5.1 in 9.10
• /etc/event.d is no longer used (since 9.10)

As always, this release (while a release candidate) is not necessarily final code and could contain dangerous bugs that could damage your system. Please don’t use it on the computer you use for  your daily work without backing it up in the event that you find you need to roll back to your current version or restore lost or damaged files.

You can perform an upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04 LTS if you already use Ubuntu, and  download disk images to use in getting Ubuntu 10.04 LTS installed on your system, and we strongly recommend that you use torrents if possible. I snagged the rc from the torrents this morning and had the task finished in almost no time at all.

If you do use the release candidate disk images please report any issues you find with these instructions.

I’d love to be able to tell you that you can request free Ubuntu 10.04 LTS installer disks from shipit.ubuntu.com but ShipIt has been closed for well over a week, despite their promise that it’s only for “a few days”. Meh. Luckily the good folks over at OMG! Ubuntu! has news of a way to get free copies of the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS install disks from OS Discs for the next 7 days, although you’re limited to one disk per person. Luckily they can use Google Checkout, complete with letting you keep your email addy from the OS Discs databases. I’ve used Google Checkout for online purchases and have been completely satisfied. I’d take OS Discs up on their offer if I were you. Never mind about getting disks from OS Discs. It seems the offer expired long before I saw it.

One more note about OMG! Ubuntu! If you’re on Twitter you should definitely follow them to get notified when they post new articles. I hope you’ll also follow me on Twitter.

Updated 26 April: One quick update: You can now request a free Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx LTS LiveCd. Details are in this post.

Ubuntu Tweak, and it’s website, get a major upgrade

[Updated 13 January to give good news on the UTweak website annoyance. -Peng]

Today I fired up the Update Manager and found that Ubuntu Tweak has been updated to version 0.5.0. Among the changes included is the use of all system-native icons (meaning that instead of seeing icons from Ubuntu Tweak it now uses the icons in your current theme wherever possible), a redesign of the sidebar and titlebar, only showing the sections that your system can use, and the ability to do online syncs with the application center.

For all the new features, as well as a bunch of screenshots, just check out the release announcement on the Ubuntu Tweak blog.

Speaking of the UTweak blog and website, it turns out that they marked the new year with a redesigned website. You can now register with the site itself, which will let you use not only the program but also their website, and use the combination as an even bigger software resource.

There is one slight problem with the new website. It turns out that if your browser window is narrower than 957 pixels the site will be centered in your website with no way to see the content on the left side of the screen. I’ve already let TualatriX know about the problem so hopefully we can get it resolved before long. In the meantime you’ll have to either make your browser wider or simply take it full screen. yes, it can be annoying, but you’re users of Ubuntu Linux so I know you can handle it.

Updated 13 January 10:00am: I just got an email from TualatriX informing me that the website width issue has been fixed. Sure enough, you no longer need to set your browser window to full screen to see all the content. Thanks for the quick work on fixing the issue, TualatriX!

If you’re already a Ubuntu Tweak user you’ll love the update. If you use Ubuntu 9.10 you definitely owe Ubuntu Tweak a look. It’s that good.

Peng’s links for Saturday, 14 November

That’s right, I’m finally getting another links post written. I’m sorry it took so long. I’ve been trying to run down some bugs, and when I haven’t been on bug hunts things have been simply crazy here in Boston.

I’ve got a couple of things from early this month, but I ended up dropping some of the article I noticed last month because they’re just to old to post. I promise to try to do better and do what I can to get at least a post on every week.

• Alan Pope: A Question of Perspective. There are definitely some complaints about Ubuntu 9.10, and not just the things I wrote about last month. One user even calls the new release a “total fail.” That’s overly harsh IMO, and Alan reminds us of some very important facts about the upgrade.
• Jordi Mas: gbrainy 1.20. Back in June I mentioned this great open source version of those brain training games you see advertised for the Nintendo DS. There’s a new version out and it’s even better than it was before with six new games. It’s available in most major GNU/Linux distros (although it may not be up to date), and there’s even a version for running on Windows. Sorry, Mac users, you need to run an emulator to enjoy it, but at least you don’t need a DS any more to have fun while training your gray matter.
• Martin Pitt: My desktop backup solution. Backing up your system regularly is important, as we all know. Martin didn’t like any of the packaged backup solutions so he came up with his own. He walks us through it, and it’s so simple even my technologically-challenged (late-)wife could have used it.
• Vincent Untz: GNOME 3.0 in September 2010. Vincent has the announcement for the new version of GNOME, as well as what it means for users of GNOME 2.30. Andre Klapper has some links to more info.
• Panji Nushantara: How To Change Windows Key Logo to Ubuntu for Free. It may be a minor detail, but why do GNU/Linux users have to use keyboards with logos for that closed-source OS from Redmond? We don’t have to any longer, thanks to System76.
• Ara Pulido: Ubuntu Testing Team. Think that testing software is a piece of cake? Think it’s too hard? Ara has news for you either way, and yes, even you can help test the next version of Ubuntu.
• Martin Owens, Karmic Art, What the Paintbrush is Saying. Martin has found some great Ubuntu-themed artwork on deviantArt. Check them out, and if you have any you’ve created why not share them as well?
• Risto H. Kurppa: Smile – a great photo show software for Linux. Not only is it easy to use, it gives some damned nice results.
• Miguel de Icaza: The future of Moonlight. Miguel has some updates for us, although it isn’t a software update just yet. If you think you even might want to enjoy Silverlight content Miguel has some good news for you.
• Aurélien Jarno: Thought of the day. It’s a short post, but if you want to see a new feature in a software app you should take the time to read it.
• Colin Watson: Tissue of lies. Some knucklehead has posted that there will be a service pack for Ubuntu 9.10 in this coming spring. (Ubuntu releases new versions every six months, not service packs.) I’m passing it along, not to give the asshat more “ink” but to make sure our readers know it’s just a bunch of malarkey.

That’s it for today. Before I go I want to congratulate Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp and second baseman Orlando “O-Dawg” Hudson on winning Gold Glove Awards this week. Congrats also go out to outfielders Kemp and Andre Ethier for receiving Silver Slugger Awards this week. I have to wonder if Juan Pierre would be getting honored if only Manny hadn’t been the team’s primary right fielder this year. There are still some awards to be handed out this week so hopefully we’ll have more good news for Chavez Ravine before the month is out.

Have you gotten your koala yet?

The bad news is that everyone and their brother (or sister) seems to be either trying to get the disk image to burn or trying to perform the upgrade. Randy Cole posted a comment on the Mass. Ubuntu Local Community maillist that the upgrade script being used is “extremely inefficient.” But as Paul Smith points out in his response, “Probably your better bet is just to wait a week or so. Then it won’t be so bad.”

If you’re finding that downloading the disk image seems to be flowing through molasses, it’s because the download servers are getting hammered on all fronts. You may want to try the download via BitTorrent if you can. I’m hearing that torrent downloads are going pretty fast as people have finished their download and making it available to others via torrents, in fact Randy posted a response to Paul’s advice and pointed out that he got the got the ISO in about an hour from torrents. Yes, Virginia, there are files being shared via torrents that are perfectly legitimate. Go figure, eh?

If you’re not sure if you want to take the time to even download an ISO file your can burn to test out the latest version of Ubuntu, you may want to take the tour of all of the features and benefits that Ubuntu 9.10 brings to the table.

Once you get Ubuntu 9.10 installed you will want to check out an article by Danny Piccirillo, another member of the Mass. Ubuntu LoCo Team, Top things to do after installing Ubuntu Linux 9.10 Karmic Koala. It’s filled with great advice, in fact I plan on going through it once I finish checking my email to see if there’s anything I missed in the past week and a half of using the beta.

A pair of Jaunty fixes, and an AWN update

There are a pair of bugs that popped up when I upgraded to Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope, or should I say one popped up when I made the upgrade and the other seems to have popped up in the last several days, but I’m glad to be able to say that I have found fixes for both of them thanks to the Ubuntu community.

You may recall that I mentioned that pympd stopped working when I made the upgrade, and yesterday threespacemen posted a great solution to my thread on the Ubuntu Forums about the issue.

Same thing happened to me on two different boxes after the upgrade to 9.04 – looks like a python upgrade might have been the issue. If you open /usr/bin/pympd in your favourite editor, you’ll see that the first line reads:

#!/usr/bin/python2.5

Change the 2.5 to 2.6 so that it reads:

#!/usr/bin/python2.6

Worked perfectly for me, but ymmv…

It worked beautifully for me and I now have mypd available as an MPD GUI in addition to Relaxx and my all time fav, Sonata.

What the hell broke Frostwire?

Several days ago I tried to fire up FrostWire to do a little downloading but for some reason it resulted in errors. I have no idea what changed on my system other than some updates I’ve taken, but I don’t know which one caused the issue. All I know for sure is that FrostWire could no longer see my Java installation anymore. Luckily I found the FrostWire docs on the Ubuntu Community Documentation site, and sure enough the first thing on that page talks about an invalid JRE message.  All I had to do was to run sudo update-java-alternatives -s java-6-sun in a terminal and select the alternative that matches the installation of Sun’s Java that I have installed.

:~$ sudo update-alternatives --config java
[sudo] password for peng2:

There are 5 alternatives which provide `java'.

Selection    Alternative
-----------------------------------------------
*+        1    /usr/lib/jvm/java-gcj/jre/bin/java
          2    /usr/bin/gij-4.2
          3    /usr/bin/gij-4.3
          4    /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun/jre/bin/java
          5    /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/jre/bin/java

Press enter to keep the default[*], or type selection number: 5
Using '/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/jre/bin/java' to provide 'java'.
:~$

Once I did that I was able to fire up FrostWire and get back to the downloading I needed to do.

We have a progress report on AWN 0.4

Today when I was checking for new posts on the Avant Window Navigator Forums I saw a new thread from Mark Lee (aka malept) that includes a link to an update on the current progress on AWN 0.4, along with a video. For all of you who have been wanting to move the AWN dock to the sides of your desktop, you’ll love what Mark’s video shows.

As a matter of fact, the video is so good I’ll provide it for you here, although you’ll want to read his post for some information that the vid doesn’t include.

He also has a link to Moonbeam’s update post, but he does include the highlights for those who only want to read a single post. Both malept and Moonbeam rock, and one day I’m going to have to buy both of them several brews a piece.

Peng’s links for Sunday, 22 Mar

As much as I tried to stay on top of my feeds this week I still end up with 25 items in my ToBlog folder. Luckily I’m going to cull out some of the older ones as well as a few things that aren’t so post-worthy at this point. But I have a great (OT) vid to share with y’all at the end.

• ArsTechnica: Get it done with GNOME Do 0.8. A very nice story on how much easier Gnome Do makes using GNOME-based GNU/Linux distros. Thanks to Peter Stuifzand over on the Do Google Group for letting me know about it.
• Jonathan Ernst: HP refunds 520$ for unused software. There was just now way I wasn’t going to share this story.
• Jon Beebe: Top 10 Reasons I’ll Never Use Ubuntu. Yes, it’s from a Linux guy, but it’s a great tongue-in-cheek list.
• Srinivasa Ragavan: Announcing ‘Anjal’- the new mail for netbooks. If you use a netbook you should definitely check out Anjal for your email client.
• Stefano Forenza: Chinese MID deploying Ubuntu by default. Speaking of netbooks, I may have to find a way to get one of these. Not only do they run my fav OS, but they’re pretty darned inexpensive as well.
• Stefano Forenze: New wallpapers for Jaunty. Don’t hold your breath. I’m liking how some of them look, although I know they won’t be everyone’s cup of espresso.
• Wouter Verhelst: Dealing with apt’s GPG signing stuff — the right way. If you use third party sources for installing and updating your GNU/Linux you know about adding GPG signing keys. Wouter has instructions for adding them in a way that doesn’t inject a security flaw, and that defeats the purpose of importing a GPG key in the first place.
• Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: Is ext4 unsafe? The next update to Ubuntu will add support for ext4 partitions, and lately people have been talking about security concerns with ext4. Luckily Jose has info to set your mind at ease.
• Josselin Mouette: Which logo for the main GNOME menu in Debian? I could have skipped this post from Friday, but the “swirl foot” icons are so cute I may have to grab them for my own system.
• Isabelle Duchatelle: Ubuntuforums nuts and bolts. Isabelle has some very handy Ubuntu Forums links you may want to bookmark, as well as some rather nice numbers for what’s going on at UF)
• Tom Dryer: How-to Install Google Earth 5 on Ubuntu. The latest update for GE brings some really nice new features. Tom gives us a very quick and easy way to install this new version, as well as some troubleshooting info.
• Joe Barker: Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty) – My Thoughts So far. Joe’s been playing with late alpha of Ubuntu 9.04 and is kind enough to let us know how it’s behaving on his system. Remember, no matter how well (or unwell) any software runs on a person’s system, Your Milage May Vary, simply because their hardware, software and particular configuration is bound to be different from yours. But so far Joe’s pretty happy with it, although I’m hearing that those of us on the Mac4Lin dev team are unhappy about yet more bloody changes to things that are affecting our software. Yet again. Grrr.
• Guillaume Desmottes: Good GNOME news. We’re just about to see a beta release of Ubuntu 9.04 and that means there is an update coming down the pike for GNOME. And as a matter of fact it came out on Wednesday. Guillaume has the best post that I’ve seen with info on what’s new in this update, next to the release notes, that is. Hell, just looking at the improvements for users makes me want to snag the beta for Ubuntu 9.04 “Jaunty Jackelope” just so I can play with it sooner!
  

I had a few other links I was going to share with y’all, but I think that’s enough for a weekend. If you’re in need of a good laugh (and some of your NCAA brackets may be in the toilet by now from what I’m hearing), check out this vid. As much as I try not to laugh at what happens to the poor feline I just can’t help myself.

Peng’s links for Monday, 22 December

[Sis? Why is your name showing up as the author of this post? I'm pretty sure I'm the one who wrote it. - Peng]

Yes, I’m still alive. Just busy over the last few days do I’ve collected a bunch of links I’d like to share with our readers.

• Mozilla Developer News: Firefox 3.05 and 2.0.0.19 security updates now available for download. Alas, the support updates for Firefox 2 are over, and the Windows version has seen a 2.0.0.20 release to deal with a “non-critical issue” specific to that OS but other than that they don’t expect to release any additional security and stability updates for the once top web browser. At the end they decided not to include the Phishing Protection service that Firefox 3 offers, but that doesn’t break my heart since I’m pretty observant when it comes to possible phishing links. That and Gmail filters those out for me anyway. Once the holidays are past I’ll be on a full court press to see if Epiphany can be my primary web browser and I still have no intention of taking Firefox 3.1 when it comes out unless I have clear evidence that they’re going to let the users decide where the New Tab button goes. I know Cat Thief has once again ridden to the rescue, but I’m tired of having to install remove-ons just to countermand the questionable usability choices that the Firefox devs shove down or throats. Even if that means I have to pass on Firefox 3.1′s support for the <video> tag and Ogg Vorbis/Theora files. Otherwise when will enough be enough?
• Linux Today: The Wrong Way To Sell Linux and More Tips For Documentation Writers (You Too, Ace Coders). Mackenzie Morgan (a GNU/Linux chick who flat out rocks) was kind enough to pass these articles along to me. The first article has some great thoughts on how we promote our favorite OS and the second one should be required reading for all documentation writers. The second one may also show a great way to help support those favored FOSS OSes and apps that we can’t live without. Thanks for the links, Mackenzie!
• Normand Bissonnette: The Diversity Of Linux Window Managers. In Windows you have a choice, 95, XP or Vista, for how your desktop looks and behaves. OSX users don’t have much choice, but they like it that way. Linux users have a veritable alphabet soup of desktop environments (GNOME, KDE, and xfce just to name the three that can come with *Ubuntu -flavored distros), and it can be pretty confusing. Normand wrote a nice, fairly short article with a number of links as he looked at the freedom that having so many desktop environments give us.
• Jun Auza: Extensive List of Keyboard Shortcuts for Ubuntu/GNOME Desktop. People who have used computers for a while know what a time saver keyboard shortcuts are, but there are a number of possible places to look up shortcut key possibilities. Jun has been kind enough to compile a list of keyboard shortcuts for GNOME-based GNU/Linux distros. You’ll definitely want to bookmark this page so you can refer back to it until you learn what all the time savers are.
• Siegfried Gevatter: Nautilus: File size below the icons. I don’t know about you but I usually use Nautilus in Icon View and it can be tedious when I have to find out how bug a file is (select the file, look at the status bar to see how big it is, then select any other files you previously had selected, …), but Siegfried has a great tip for us that he came up with after reading am Ubuntu Brainstorm idea. I have to say it’s one of the best bits of info I found last week.
• Mackenzie Morgan: Adobe Flash: Avoiding Checksum Errors. Yes, another link from the über Mackenzie, this time a tip to make updating Adobe Flash easier along with an explanation of why it can be such a pain in the rear.
• Sayak Banerjee: VLC Celebrates Christmas! I haven’t been able to get it working myself due to something borked on my end, but VLASIC has a delightful little way of helping you celebrate Chrismukkuh.
• Matthew Revell: Launchpad news: Exaile media player. A number of users are discovering the GTK-based Exaile media player, especially with it’s recent updated beta release, and Matthew was kind enough to talk with the project’s founder about Exaile and why they decided to use Launchpad.

I’ve got more links to share, as well as a response to a post by Jono Bacon, but they will have to wait until tomorrow as my time’s getting short. I don’t know why we’re getting so much traffic today (over a thousand hits today after usually staying in the 300-400 range), but if you’re new to our little blog then welcome! I hope Nanci and I have some content that will give you reasons to visit us again.

Are you getting a weird error when you try to update your package indexes?

Yesterday I started getting a weird error message when I tried to check for updates using Update Manager.

That text box with the horizontal scroll bar says

Method gave invalid 400 URI Failure messageMethod gave invalid 400 URI Failure message

If I were to run sudo apt-get update I end up with this cryptic message:

E: Method gave invalid 400 URI Failure message
E: Method gave invalid 400 URI Failure message

I’ll say it: The hell?!? There’s absolutely zarro info to try to track down the problem, but this morning I did a search on Uboontu and found the culprit, thanks to a comment by sloggerkhan on this post. Back in Spetpember I told you about the new Playdeb repo from the good folks at GetDeb.net, one of the best places to find software, especially updates, that hasn’t made its way into your OS’s official repositories yet. Evidently the PlayDeb repo goes stupid from time to time and can kick back a 400 error. Just go into your sources.list and comment out the PlayDeb repo, or go into System > Administration > Software Sources and uncheck the box next to your PlayDeb listing. Then update your indexes and you will be able to find updates that have been waiting for you. Today I found updates for Avant Window Navigator (AWN) that I heard were coming and even an update for the GlobalMenu that I was just wondering yesterday how long it would be before I saw it. Just remember, you don’t have to close AWN and GlobalMenu before you start the update process (this ain’t Windows, after all) but you won’t see the changes untill you close and restart them, which means at leats logging out and then back in again to see the update in the GlobalMenu.